The king and his monkey | Loyalty without wisdom | PanchTantra TV Serial

When washing the cloths on the bank of the river near the ashram, the teacher Vishnu Sharma found that one of the prince is trying shoot an arrow to a bird hold by one of his brothers. The teacher stopped his and then they were in the conversation about various qualities and focused onto the loyalty. The kids were telling that the loyalty is the most important and only quality require in someone to be their friend. The teacher then told that the wisdom is also equally important. If someone is loyal to you but lack knowledge and wisdom, he will be even more dangerous than an enemy.

The teacher promised to tell a story about the same to the children when they reach back to the hut. It was the story of “The King and His Monkey”.

Once upon a time there was a king [played by: Amzad Khan] ruling a kingdom somewhere. An ambassador from the near by kingdom came to see the king to convey his king’s message to him. The ambassador, being escorted to the king’s place by his minister reached to the door of the room of king. There he found a monkey was guarding the door by having a naked sword in his hand. The ambassador not only amazed but confused also and asked about the stuff to the minister. The wise minister told him that the monkey is not just a monkey but it is very favorite of the king. The king trusts the monkey more than even his ministers and other officials. The king’s logic was the people serving at various high official posts in his kingdom or his relatives, all they have secret ambition to either get appreciated by the king or want to take the king’s place. They are not actually loyal to the king, but showing loyalty to keep themselves in the good book of the king. This way they were just satisfying their personal needs. The minister also warned the ambassador to not to talk about the monkey in ill manner and never call it monkey but give him the respect. As monkey is used to tell everything he is encountered with, to the king himself.

The minister then requested the monkey to inform the king about their arrival and fix their meeting with the king. The monkey got into the king’s room and as per king’s approval he came to call and let them in, to meet the king.

The ambassador then paid respect to the king and as part of the message delivery protocol, greeted on behalf of his own king. The monkey then complaints the king that the ambassador doesn’t paid respect to him and he is not happy with him. The king then asks the ambassador that if he made monkey unhappy, he made the king himself unhappy. And demands unconditional apology of the monkey by the ambassador. The ambassador apologies to the king. When pressured by the king to apologize to the monkey not himself, the ambassador refuse to pay apology to the monkey. The king threatens him to attach his kingdom if he will not do as said.

The environment got hotter and the ambassador left the king’s place. The minister was found very unhappy with the king’s behavior with the ambassador. For the better future of the kingdom, it is necessary to have good relations with the other kingdoms, especially in the neighborhood. It is never a wise choice to make them enemy with such silly reasons. Also at the time when half the army is engaged somewhere at the border of other side, the kingdom is in no condition to welcome a fight.

The news spread in the kingdom have made some of the reputed wise men to arrange a meeting with the king. They then advised the king with the proper advice and requested to not take such silly reasons into account and declare a war against other kingdom. The ambassador have simply called a monkey, a monkey. It is not the disrespectful thing. And definitely not a valid reason to announce a war. The king refuse to hear anything against his monkey and told them if the monkey is feeling ill, he is feeling ill. So on no account, he is going to take it lightly. He then tells an incident how monkey have saved his life in past.

Once the king was taking his sound sleep and a deadly snake came to his bedroom. The monkey was guarding the king. When he showed the snake and found the king’s life in danger, he put every effort to keep the snake away from the king and keep him harmless. The king woke up due to the disturbance of the struggle between the snake and the monkey. He then took his sward and cut down the snake into two pieces. He appreciated the efforts of the monkey in saving his life. The broken heart citizens left the king’s place but in a secret meeting, they requested the minister to find a way to get out of this situation. It is not acceptable to declare a war with other kingdom in such fragile conditions and make the kingdom and all it’s citizens lives and livelihoods at risk. The minister promises to get to a solution for the sake of the kingdom and all the citizens.

During the same night when the king was sleeping. A bee came to his bedroom and started flying over the king. The bee then started jumping over the king’s face and taking round flights over the king. The king started getting disturbed. The monkey, guarding the king as always, saw this and think get the bee out of the place, in favor of the king. The monkey tried, but he was not able to capture the bee. He then remembered that, how the king cut down the snake in the past. He than thought to do the same. The bee was moving on kings face, neck, heart and other areas. The angry monkey have got his sword out and hit it hard over the bee. Whether the bee got wounded, killed or escaped doesn’t matter but the king got the deadly wound and the result is all presumable. No marks for guessing it!!!

As it is understood that the monkey was loyal to the king but haven’t any intelligence or wisdom. The monkey doesn’t knew what is right and what is not, what to do in such situation. And the monkey’s loyalty took the king’s soul out of his body.

The teacher then asked the kids the moral of the story. All the kids have their own perceptions and conclusions. The teacher then explains the moral of the story.

Well, it doesn’t matter if I explain what the teacher told or skip it, you could have definitely got the moral of the story.

The acting of the teacher and the princes is applause-able. one of the kid is not having proper pronunciations and need to work on his dialog deliver, we are referring the kid, playing the smallest prince. Amjad khan was as usual and natural as he is in the movies also. The dialogs, background scores, the sets all are up to the mark. You can see a king wearing pink and white! Well kings might have dressed like that. The artificial bee and special effects related to the same are not up to the mark. The DVD quality is not what we like to enjoy these days. Although when you look for the content and moral, watching the episode is the right choice.